ZeroGen was a proposed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Queensland. It was proposed by ZeroGen Pty Ltd, a Queensland government owned company, which stated that the first stage of the project would be to build a 120 megawatts gross coal gasification plant located near Rockhampton in Central Queensland by 2012. However, in late October 2011, the company was put into receivership by the Queensland government. Announcing the collapse of the project, the Queensland Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser stated that the project was not financially viable. "I think it's important to acknowledge here that we're talking about the potential for billions of dollars to be invested in this technology," he said.[1]

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The CCS Dream

"CO2 emissions will be captured at site and transported approximately 220 kilometres by truck for injection and safe storage in deep underground reservoirs in the Northern Denison Trough," the company's website states. The feasibility study on this part of the project is expected to be completed Stage One feasibility study is now expected to be completed by the end of 2009.[2]

The second stage of the project, depending on the outcomes of the first stage, would involve the construction of a 400 megawatt CCS project in Queensland at a site yet to be determined. The pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for the second stage are scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2008.[2]

The estimated cost of the total project had been reported as being $1.7 billion, "$500 million more than originally planned."[3]

While major environmental groups such as Greenpeace oppose CCS, the ZeroGen project has gained the support of WWF-Australia and the CFMEU. A ZeroGen media release cited WWF-Australia CEO, Greg Bourne, as statiung that "rapid deployment of demonstration plants like ZeroGen is necessary to determine whether CCS is practical for broad application."[4]

Federal funding

In December 2009 the Federal Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson, announced that the government would spend up to $120 million on pre-feasibility work on four CCS related projects, one of which was the Wandoan project. In a media release Ferguson stated that the project "aims to store up to 2.0 mega tonnes of CO2 per annum. The project is near prospective geological formations for CO2 storage that are under assessment."[5]